ONE
by visitivity
Summary: Lily Evans enters the prestigious Hogwarts School of Magic, hoping to live out the rest of her school years inconspicuously. When she meets James Potter, her hopes for a quiet school life is crushed as she is drawn into his enigmatic world. Based on HYD.
1. Overture

**ONE**

**Disclaimer**: **I don't own Harry Potter and this story is based off of the manga _Hana Yori Dango_. Please read and don't forget to review.**

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_Is there anybody going to listen to my story,_

_All about the girl who came to stay?_

_She's the kind of girl you want so much, _

_It makes you sorry_

_Still you don't regret a single day. _

_--_The Beatles

I don't remember much of the first time I saw you—what should've been an epic prologue to a tear-jerking love story is epitomized in the ashes of a crimson howler. What marks our first intimate connection is deeply imprinted in my memory and heart by the contact of your fist onto my face. I am the first to admit that you are not feminine, uncouth, and sometimes I think you a bit of a brute.

But then you turn to look at me with those green eyes and that self-righteous smirk, and suddenly, I feel jittery and I hate you because you make my insides flutter. And I, James Henry Potter, do not have frequently have issues with fluttery insides. Figuratively speaking, if I had any weaknesses, that would be it and that's why I keep you around.

I guess.

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ACT I: OVERTURE  
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Alice Prewitt was a peculiar young witch with a particular love for breakfast. She did not like order--routine to her, was dumping milk into her cereal and watching as the milk changed colour, complementing her choice of fibre intake each morning. Although a pure-blooded witch, Alice did not take Muggle maladies lightly and always prattled on about the importance of daily vitamin and calorie intakes.

Alice Prewitt woke up promptly at 7:30 am every morning to ensure ample time for consumption and digestion of breakfast goods. She welcomed this little bit of constancy in her daily chaos. It was now 8:00 am and Alice Prewitt was not sitting at her usual spot in the Great Hall and meditating over mouthfuls of salt-and-peppered eggs but rather, sitting and fuming at a large lump underneath blankets.

"If you do not get up right at this second, I will be forced to take desperate measures." Alice said through gritted teeth, anger building as every second slipped by from her beloved breakfast.

The lump grumbled as it shifted and snuggled deeper into the blankets.

"Five more minutes, Mum... Fi..." it mumbled while waving its hand dismissingly before succumbing to an incoming wave of slumber.

The pretty brunette groaned and shook her head in annoyance. They were never going to leave Gryffindor Tower at this rate. She looked at the clock and gasped—it was already ten past eight. They were going to miss breakfast. Her eyes narrowed and glinted coldly.

"Lily Marie Evans, you leave me no choice," she whispered guiltily while whipping out her wand.

A piercing scream rang throughout the girls' dormitories.

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A barely awake redhead was seen, being dragged out the Gryffindor portrait hole by an anxious Alice Prewitt.

"Oh bugger, Lily. I swear to Merlin if you had made me miss my daily morning intake of calcium, fibre, and vitamin C... I don't know what I'm going to do with you! You know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and that it generates energy for all of your other daily activities. I've got Quidditch practice tonight, run by that twat James Potter. And now I am absolutely going to die on account of the fact that I haven't got enough calories and vitamins and calcium and things in me! Oh bugger..." Alice sighed while ploughing her way to the Great Hall.

Lily yawned and rubbed her eyes.

"If you only gave me five more minutes, I swear I would've been up. You didn't have to hose me down with jets of icy cold water. You're far too uptight about this vitamin business, Alice. You're not even a Muggle..." she mumbled sleepily.

Alice dropped her hand in shock.

"How can you even say that? Because you are Muggle-born, I thought that you, of all people, would understand the consequences revered by failing to consume a hearty breakfast. Do you or do you not remember that incident when we were little and were in Ireland and you spend so many hours in the bathroom retching because of that..."

Lily sighed as she took in yet another lecture about the importance of breakfast and yet another recall of that awful memory of the stomach bug she had caught n her childhood. She looked around at her surroundings. So this was Hogwarts, the legendary and most prestigious school of magic in all of England. It only opens its doors to the purest of blood and the talented... Yet she, Lily Evans, was nothing but a mere Muggle-born. Talented yes, but her familial lineage leaves much to be desired, especially with the beginning of a blood-war looming. Lily shrugged; she was not going to think about such grim things and pushed the nasty thought to the back of her mind.

Alice noticed that Lily wasn't listening and poked her, "Hey, are you alright?"

Lily put on a smile. "It's just a little overwhelming how I'm here. I mean—"

"Oh, pssh. You are the most talented witch I know and you can send whomever says otherwise to me. I will give them a piece of mind, having eaten breakfast or not!" Alice stated forcefully while swinging her arm around Lily's shoulders protectively.

Lily laughed; it was good to have her best friend around. She had missed Alice and all of her craziness while she was studying abroad in France.

"But listen to me, Lily. You still have to be careful. With what's going on nowadays, it's best to keep your Muggle heritage a secret. As sad as it is to say, there are those at this school who condone the admission of Muggle-borns, no matter their talent. If they were to find out about you, then..." Alice trailed off, "Never mind. Don't worry about it. No matter what, you've always got me and I would never let those blood-sniffing bastards lay a finger on you!"

Lily squeezed Alice's hand and met her best friend's eyes with a determined gaze.

"Don't worry about me, Alice—I've got enough hexes and curses in the back of my robes than in a Defence against the Dark Arts textbook. I won't let those twats get to me." She had meant it.

"Oh Lily..." Alice hugged her best friend tight but she couldn't help but feel worried.

"Now let's go get those vitamins that are oh-so important to you in the morning."

The girls linked arms and sauntered down into the Great Hall only to be met by mass chaos. Students were hiding underneath the tables as food was flung everywhere: an all-out food war. Amidst this chaos, Lily found her eyes being drawn towards four tall boys, surveying the damage from the sidelines, all of whom were impeccably clean. The tall one with unruly brown hair turned in her direction, as if responding to her curious gaze. As hazel met green, he smirked at her—a haughty and self-righteous smile and watched, as a majestic owl flew past the girls and carried a crimson envelope, already smouldering at the edges.

Alice's heart stopped.

"A crimson howler..." she whispered.


	2. A Crimson Howler

**ACT II: A Crimson Howler **

_And what a scummy man  
Just give him half a chance  
I bet he'll rob you if he can  
Can see it in his eyes, yeah  
That he's got a driving ban  
Amongst some other offences_

--Arctic Monkeys

Lily noticed the sudden alarm in Alice's eyes.

"What's wrong? What's a crimson howler?"

"A crimson howler," Alice whispered fearfully "is the Marauder's mark. Whoever receives it is doomed to be the Marauder's next target for a prank war."

Lily looked at her frightened friend blankly and simply stated: "But I thought all howlers were red."

"No, no, no... Howlers are merely red. These howlers are crimson; a shade of red so rich that it defines the purity of blood belonging to those who sent them, Hogwart's most elite: the Marauders. It is said that when you receive one, it smoulders ever-so-slowly," Alice emphasized, "and disintegrates before your eyes. And then..." She paused for dramatic effect, "it releases an inaudible curse that will drive you mad until you are of the intelligence of a Flubberworm!"

"That is ridiculous, Alice. You know very well that normal howlers smoulder and turn into ashes before your eyes anyway. And then they release a booming voice telling you to sod off for whatever reasons." She chuckled, amused to see her boisterous friend scared into silence for once in her life.

Alice turned to her friend worriedly. "You don't understand, Lily. It's the will of the Marauders that run this school. They are the heirs of the four most powerful and oldest wizarding families! Just promise me that you'll stay on their good sides—I know your temper and it won't do you any good to cross the Marauders. Oh, promise me, Lily, that you won't do anything silly."

Lily rolled her eyes at the pleading Alice. Marauders, whatever. It wasn't like she was going to blip onto their radar anytime soon. Lily Evans was planning to have a nice and quiet school life, and live peacefully until she graduates and hopefully after that as well.

"Oh look, it seems as though they have stopped flinging food everywhere. Come on Alice, let's go and get some of that breakfast that you love so much before Transfiguration." Lily said hastily, eager to shake her friend out of her apocalyptical reverie.

With that, she took Alice's arm and deviated towards the only semi-clean spot in the Great Hall. She sat down and buttered a piece of toast and motioned for Alice to do the same.

Between bites, she wondered just who the "Marauders" were and why everyone was so scared of them. Shaking her head, she reminded herself that it had nothing to do with her and she was not about to poke her nose into somebody else's business.

Completely unaware of the unnatural silence around her, Lily continued to munch on her toast. Oh yeah, she thought briefly, what had happened to the crimson howler and its unlucky recipient?

"Oi, Lily. I really don't think that we should be sitting here." Alice said nervously while grabbing Lily's arm and tugging at her to move.

"Er... Why not? Blimey, Alice—this is the only spot in this whole entire hall that is relatively clean!"

"This is the Slytherin table; we are Gryffindors. We have... conflict..." Alice trailed off.

Lily snorted. They weren't children anymore and Lily was not going to engage in a childlike feud. She told Alice just that. Alice shrugged and continued to look around nervously. Suddenly, she gasped.

"Lily, look! There it is!"

Lily turned and was shocked to see a boy as pale as the whites of her poached egg rocking back and forth while the crimson howler hovered before him and smouldered ominously.

"Erm... Excuse me, are you alright?" Lily asked, concernedly.

The boy gave no reply and continued to stare at the howler, with his mouth slightly agape.

"Hullo...?" Lily tried waving her arm in his face but Alice grabbed it and held onto it tightly.

Alice hissed. "Lily! What are you doing? Don't associate with him—he's a Dark Arts fanatic and hates Muggles!"

"I was just seeing if he was alright, he looks as though his soul has been sucked out by a Dementor or somebody's transfigured his insides into a Flubberworm!"

"Oh bugger. I told you—I TOLD YOU—that the crimson howlers did something like that! Let's get out of here before we end up in that sorry state as well!"

"But Alice, we can't just leave the poor boy like this. We've got to get a professor to take him to St. Mungo's and get his head checked!"

"No... No... No!!!" the boy screamed suddenly, standing up so violently that his chair fell behind him. Everybody turned their heads and stared intently at what was to unfold.

"You won't get the best of me! You won't get the best of me, you stinking Marauders!" he hollered, obviously approaching hysterics. "You are nothing special and I will not succumb to this... this poi-pointless threat!"

Lily heard gasps of horror echo through the Great Hall. She looked around quizzically, unsure of what was going on.

A member of the group that she had been looking at earlier stepped out in the crowd and approached towards him; his face, a handsome mask of friendliness but his eyes spoke a different story.

"Did you hear that, mate? Somebody said that we were nothing special. What are we, the petty little people, to do?" He drawled icily, his piercing blue eyes boring into the quivering boy before him.

His three friends strode beside him. They looked different, Lily remarked. They were attractive, yes, but somehow untouchable so. They did not wear the normal uniform and dressed in expensive dress robes. They carried a particular aura, commanding respectful fear from their peers. It was to be expected from Hogwart's elite, she thought, the prestige that one's blood brought to them was almost loathsome.

"Aye... Well, Moony, that just hurts me poor heart. And here I was standing all this time, so disillusioned in our greatness that I overlooked that we are nothing but insignificant beings in this great old establishment." Another boy with flaxen hair and cold grey eyes sighed sarcastically. "Thanks for enlightening us, dear Rooky."

"Lupin... Longbottom..." the boy whispered.

"Oh no, no," sang a handsome boy with maliciously twinkling brown eyes while wagging a finger condescendingly, "Our names do not fall with such casual grace from the lips of Slytherin scum. Have you not learn this from your six years here? Whatever shall we do, Prongsie? It seems as though the professors are not competent to properly deal with thick blockheads."

He turned to a boy, taller the rest, and awaited his response. The tall boy stood haughtily and ran a hand through his unruly hair. After a momentary pause, he raised his wand slowly.

"_Wingardium leviosa_." He drawled cruelly.

The boy rose slowly in the air, his eyes full of terror. He opened his mouth but no sound came out.

"Well, since the professors are unfit to deal with these situations, perhaps we should take it into our own hands," his voice dripping with false concern, "It is rather troublesome when little dark wizards run around, marring our names whenever they please. I reckon it would be beneficial to show him and his wormy little friends just what happens when they cross the Marauders."

Beneath the boy, the crimson howler finally exploded and a chilling whisper flitted from its ashes.

"_Judgement shall be passed._"

And with that, all hell broke loose.


End file.
